It's Right There, It's Still There
by Natalie122333
Summary: One-shot. Inspired by Red Light on the Wedding Night and the revival. Just a little fluffy L/L
**Author's note: The idea for this story came to me when I was rewatching Red Light on the Wedding Night (the ep where Luke gives Lorelai the chuppah) and when I saw set pictures from the revival, where you can see that the chuppah is still on her lawn! I thought of the other plot randomly. This takes place in present day (well at least in warmer weather so maybe this summer? Haha). Anyways please feel free to leave a review.**

"Will you just tell me where we're going?" Lorelai demanded.

Luke smirked. "I already told you, it's a surprise."

Lorelai pouted. "Is it far?"

Luke let out a breath. "It's not far from Hartford."

They had just left Stars Hollow. The only thing Luke had told Lorelai was that he had planned some sort of activity for a few hours of the day. They were going somewhere to do something; he just wouldn't tell her what.

"Oh, I know, we're going to go skydiving!" Lorelai said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's what we're doing," Luke replied sarcastically.

"Okay… um we're going to see a puppet show." Lorelai clapped her hands.

"Why the hell would we do that? Why would anyone over the age of eight do that?" Luke shook his head.

"I don't know, it could be fun, you'd like it if one of the puppets wore a backwards baseball hat… or oh, if one of the puppets owned a diner!" Lorelai exclaimed. She laughed at her own idea.

Luke just glared at her. He wondered how he had fallen in love with someone so… eccentric, someone who was almost the complete opposite of him.

Lorelai smirked. "Fine, um… we're going… to go to a baseball game?"

"No. How about you just wait and see when we get there? It'll be worth it, I promise." Luke told her.

Lorelai gave him a small smile. She trusted him, she just wasn't very patient. It was a couple hours before sunset and she was starting to wonder if they could do the activity he had planned in the dark.

When they pulled off the highway, Luke told her to close her eyes.

"Why?" She asked, confused.

"Because I still want it to be a surprise and once you see where we are when we stop, you'll know what we're doing."

Lorelai looked at him; the expression on his face was unreadable. She sighed but closed her eyes. She still trusted him and she wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Luke reached out and rubbed her leg. She smiled when she felt it.

A few minutes later, Luke turned off the engine of the truck and Lorelai heard him remove the keys from the ignition.

"Keep your eyes closed, I'll come around and open the door for you." He said.

Lorelai complied. Luke got out of the truck and walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door and took Lorelai's hand. He helped her out of the truck. She kept her eyes closed. Once she was on the ground, she asked:

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Nope, I'll tell you when." Luke dropped her hand and placed a hand on the small of her back. "Just walk next to and I'll make sure you don't trip or walk into anything."

Lorelai didn't say anything. She walked next to him; he guided her by keeping his hand on her back. They had walked for hardly a minute before Lorelai mumbled:

"Luke, this feels weird, are we almost there?"

"Yep, just keep walking." He responded.

They walked for another couple of minutes before Luke said:

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Lorelai grinned and opened her eyes. She looked around and saw that they were in an open field. There were two large hot air balloons about thirty feet away from them. A group of people were in front of both of them. A man was helping a kid into one of the balloons.

Lorelai gasped. "We're going on a hot air balloon ride?"

Luke nodded. "Yep, you're okay with that, right?"

"Okay? Of course I'm okay with it. It's totally romantic… you, the guy who yelled 'finally!' at the end of Love Story planned this, I am truly amazed."

Luke's brow furrowed. "You're never gonna let me forget that are you?"

Lorelai smiled. "Nope, Love Story is…. Well it's a great, tragic love story. Your comment was inappropriate." She scoffed.

Before Luke could say anything, Lorelai spoke again.

"I can't believe you planned this. You're the best." She quickly kissed his cheek.

Luke smiled softly. "Well, I'm happy you like the idea."

Lorelai was reminded of Rory's going away party years ago, where Luke had said: " _I just like to see you happy"._ She smiled. He really did like to see her happy. And he didn't have to do a big gesture like this to make her happy, just being with him made her happy.

One of the balloon operators noticed Luke and Lorelai and he gestured to them, telling them to come over. Luke grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her gently.

"Come on."

They walked over to the group in front of the balloon. The other balloon had just taken off. The man who had called them over confirmed Luke's reservation and explained the rules and told them that the balloon would be ready soon.

Luke and Lorelai took a few steps back. A little while later, they were instructed to get in the balloon and they did with a little difficulty. Luke watched the grin on Lorelai's face as the balloon lifted off the ground. He was thrilled that she seemed to be enjoying it.

As soon as they were high up in the air, Lorelai moved closer to Luke and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't seem to care that the pilot was there, but she was never really shy about public displays of affection, so Luke wasn't surprised. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Look at the view!" Lorelai marveled.

Luke looked out and agreed; the view was spectacular. About forty minutes into the ride, the sun started to set.

"This is so nice." Lorelai whispered.

"Yeah, it is." Luke said softly.

Lorelai pulled away a little and smiled up at him. He smiled back. She tilted her head a little and he took the hint and pressed a couple of kisses to her lips.

When she pulled back, Lorelai giggled a little. She was a little surprised that he had kissed her in front of the pilot. She glanced at the pilot and saw that he wasn't even looking at them.

She wrapped an arm around Luke's waist and looked out at the view again. Luke did the same after he quickly kissed the top of her head.

When they returned home, Lorelai waited in the truck, she knew Luke would walk around to open the door for her. Luke got out and walked around to the passenger side. He reached out and opened the door then held out his hand to her. Lorelai smiled softly and placed her hand in his. He helped her down, but didn't let go of her hand. Lorelai beamed, she knew he didn't really like hand holding. They walked towards the door together. Lorelai stopped suddenly, which caused Luke to stop too. She dropped his hand.

"What?" He asked. He followed her gaze. She was looking across the lawn. Without saying a word, Lorelai started walking. Luke followed. Lorelai stopped in front of the chuppah. When Luke came to stand next to her, she turned to look at him.

"Do you remember when you gave me this chuppah?" She asked with a grin.

"Yeah," He said simply.

The smile didn't leave her face and he couldn't help but smile back. It had been over fourteen years since he had given her the chuppah. Although it was originally a wedding present for her marriage to another man, it had become a sort of symbol of Luke's love of and affection for Lorelai. When he first gave it to her, she was amazed that he had took the time to craft it and she was also amazed that he had given her a wedding present at all.

Although Lorelai had never married Max, she still kept the chuppah. It had never really reminded her of the failed engagement. It had reminded her of Luke. She remembered that it seemed like Luke hadn't even wanted to come to the wedding, so she suspected the chuppah may have been a way of him to show that he was happy for her without attending the wedding. She couldn't imagine what it had felt like for him to see her engaged (and later married) to another man. She had never asked him about it though as she didn't want to hurt his feelings. They had found their way back to each other and they were happy now, that's all that mattered.

Lorelai had even kept the chuppah during the time she was married to Christopher. She had gotten rid all of her other "Luke" things, including all of the jewelry and other little gifts he had given her. The chuppah was too big to move and Christopher had never even noticed it. Luke's dad boat was also something that was too big to move, but he took care of that himself without Lorelai being aware of it, just like the first time they broke up. The chuppah was a painful reminder of her and Luke's relationship, but it also made Lorelai smile and remember the good times.

"I can't believe it's stayed stable all this time. I thought it would have broken years ago." Luke said.

"Well you fix it up every so often and I would never let it get ruined, I love it too much."

Luke just raised his eyebrows.

"I love it almost as much as I love coffee." She teased.

Luke didn't say anything; he just stood there and looked at the chuppah.

Lorelai giggled and grabbed his hand. She pulled him until they were standing under the chuppah.

She tugged on his hand until he turned to face her. He wondered what she wanted, but once he saw the look on her face, he knew.

She cupped his cheek and leaned in. Their lips met in a tender kiss. When they pulled apart, Lorelai whispered:

"Thank you."

"For what?" Luke inquired.

"Just… everything." She replied.

Luke understood. He gave her a small smile. "Come on, crazy lady, let's get inside."

Lorelai took one last look at the chuppah and nodded. They went inside their house.

 **Thanks for reading.**


End file.
